Formula 1 Grand Prix Singapore 2009!!

Some of my shots taken over the F1 weekend. It'll be a 'car-only' post instead of a general write-up of the whole event.

Here fisichella passes the finishing line in the midst of a practice session in the twilight with the Singapore Flying in the backgrond. One can also see the podium where champagne will pop!

A Brawn GP car carving out a nice line. A white/green car riding a white/green line.

Another shot of a Brawn GP car taken using slow shutter and panning technique.

City view, again in twilight.

Coming out of one of the most famous bridges (Anderson bridge) in Singapore, another panning shot taken here.

Another panning shot, here I like the trail of colours above the force India car matching the livery of the car itself!

Here's a panning shot in portrait mode, to show the retarding green/white stripes.

Over all I'm happy with the shots given the limited views and various fenced up area. If any has offers to Paddock Club/Pit passes/Photography vests, do let me know ok!!

Diane Reeves: Mosaci Festival 12/9/2009

http://www.diannereeves.com/, amazing vocal range, spanning 3 octaves easily. Incredible diction and clarity, with wit, humour, conversation in melody, this was...the best concert ever!!

Toy convention 2009

Many thanks to Weichang & Yiru from www.myotakuhouse.com for the invitation to cover their showcase at the Toy convention 2009! Here're some snaps from the convention!

Not a great toy fan myself, I couldn't get my eyes away from this impressive display of Transformers! The number of Optimus Prime alone was mind-blogging and I might start to understand why some fanatics have their houses converted to a collector's haven/museum!

Here's a snap of Otaku house! Covering many cosplay items plus collectibles. Check out the Qee selection!! www.myotakuhouse.com!

An example of the absolutely gorgeous and exquisite showcase of Blythe doors. The booth was swarmed with admirers all wanting a piece of this beautiful colleciton of dolls!

Here two men trying to look cool infront of the Blythe showcase.....but hiding a doll each behind them... ;)

One of my favourite stations was the Wii counters, there were easily 10+ stations set up for people to play all sorts of Wii games! This is the new floor pad...and remember to wear the correct coloured socks!! I also had the chance to go on stage to try the Wii guitar!! More images of that to follow...

Joining the 30yo club

Finally, the 'dreaded' day is here. It seem so far away in the horizon for so many years, and never thought how it would feel to finally reach here. And 'poof', it's here faster than anything I've seen.

Some say what achievements have gone through the past 30yrs?? I'm happily married to the love of my life, I'm enjoying my wisest and perhaps the most productive years to date. My 'raw speed' of thought hasn't match up to when I was 18 years old, neither has my 'pure' physical fitness now compared to when I was a teenager. BUTT!! I'm enjoying fine wines up to vintage of 1982 (that's a tad off my birth year!! 1979, which isn't known to be a great wine vintage). I've my own ride and I've taken part in biatholons and triathlons and I've just signed up for my first marathon!!! (standard chartered 2009). I've also been conferred a Phd recently. I've been fortunate enough to witness great cities and national parks of the world, and been blessed with a camera to capture many of these great sites. All in all a great 30 years!

For the next 10 years, many of the '30 club' have said that it's the best years of one's life. I look forward to be successful in my career, to carve out a path worthy to guide others on theirs, to taste the best food and wine around the world, to savour the fruits of labour with my family.

More thoughts to follow....*written after a tank of Sake!!!*..

OUT!

*part 2 of story....Here's one of my best meals I have could have imagined, great Japanese fare (courtesy of TK's arrangements & Thomas culinary skills @ Tomo, Marina square), private room, and XL bottle of Sake, 6 pax, fluid conversation and exchange of ideas = a meal close to perfection. The sake when warmed turned out to be extremely fragrant, switching on the 'right' taste buds at the right time. Here's a composite shot of the gang. From the top left, Cheng Wee, Me! and Yaozhong, buddies from Victoria School, top right, Hoe Soon and myself, trenders! and yes, that's the bottle of sake which we finished. Bottom left, wifey and I tucking in mouth-watering prawns! Bottom right, a trio with Loke Yuen grining with excessive sake blowing red on his face!

Part 3 to follow...

And it was back home for a traditional cake cutting with my parents and wifey. Damn 3 big candles!!!

This was about a week prior to the actual day, celebrating with my research group, Organic Nano Device Lab @ National University of Singapore. It's a tradition to get a cake for the 'babies' for each month. And since August was going to be my last month and it was my big THREE-O, I had to decide to get a 'good cake', and share it with the group! I chose passion meringue from The Patissier , it cost...a BOMB!! Think $XXX, but from everyone's reaction, this cake was worth it..hee.

More to follow? I think so!! watch out!

We, the citizens of Singapore...

I was very fortunate to be able to catch the NDP, albeit it was NE2, but it was the BEST NDP ever which I've watched. The creative direction by Ivan Heng and music direction by Sydney Tan was simply ..WOW.. I absolutely love the 7X8 'cubicles' and it was such a great idea! My favourite segment was the 'chapter 4', where by Singapore was in a 'Fast forward' regime with music from various generation from the 60s all the way through the 90s. The mixing of Shout- Tears for Fears, Spice girls - Wannabe, Madonna - Music and other songs were simply 'pumping'!!! Watching the parade from the Telly on NDP itself was just... so different compared to 'live'!!

New blog - Grape Juice! http://whoisdionysus.blogspot.com

In the flurry of wine-events which I've attended lately, it seems more appropriate to create a wine blog for that. And 'Who is Dionysus?' is born! Please submit answers to the question and the winner will receive a mystery gift!

Jacob's Creek, cabernet sauvignon 2007

I tried the Vintage 2007 at one of the most popular hotels in Singapore, Marina Mandarin! The nose is really pleasant, with medium acidity and decent length. Can a structure of a wine improve over time?

Penfold's Rawson Retreat Shiraz Cabernet 2006 & Laborie Cabernet Sauvignon 2001

I brought these two to Alfred's place. Thanks to TK for the wine glasses! This Cabernet Sauvignon is from the 2001 vintage. The cork had almost dis-integrated! The wine has matured into a dark ebony. The nose is unlike any other wines. I'm unfamiliar with South African wine, and this has been a refreshing nose. The wine has interesting structure, with well-mannered tannins, slightly sharp, and an unfamiliar length.
We also had the 2006 Vintage of Rawson's Retreat, Shiraz Cabernet. The nose is excellent, wonderful floral/fruity bouquet, with well-balanced tannis/palette/length. It's really a good value-for-money wine! I wonder how well it'll mature in 5-10years?

Chateau Corbin 2000 & Blason L'Evangile 2005

We had the pleasure to taste the Chateau Corbin Grand Cru Classe St Emilion 2000 & Blason L'Evangile 2005 at TK's place. The Corbin was a 2000. It was decanted for already an hour before Wenhui and I arrived. And fresh from the memory of the Loeville Poyferre's masterclass a week earlier, everything of the Corbin was 'benched-marked' against the Poyferre. It was indeed tough to match the classic vintages of the Poyferre but the Corbin had strong tobacco scent, (not my favourite), and hints of aged fruits (can't tell what). Overall it's decent Bordeaux wine. The Blason L'Evangile 2005 was a surprisingly youthful wine which doesn't need any decanting and had bountiful fruity nose and very approable for such a young wine. All it needs now is a few years in the cellar and it will blossom beautifully!!

2009-04-05 Malaysia Formula 1 Grand Prix!

Formula 1 Grand Prix, 2009! Having last been there in 2006, we finally decided to to there again, this time on K1 Platinum grandstands! We went with http://www.wheelsforfun.com.sg/ again. Here's an expansive view of turn 1 at 17mm focal length.


Drivers' parade!!






I opted for a slightly different angle for the turn1 this time. Instead of a full 'frontal' shot of the main straight, I chose to take the cars turning into turn 1. Here we have Nico Rosberg leading Jensen Button into turn 1!




A panning shot of Jensen Button of Brawn GP. Ross Brawn has proven to be a legend in Formula 1 with his tactics and technical skills with various teams over the years (Benetton, Ferrari, and Honda, which was bought over and now it's Brawn GP team!)


A nice lady amongst the green green seats of the grandstand. The amount of shelter provided by these grandstands were no match to the rain and wind which were to bombard the circuit on race day.

Kimi Raikonnen leading fellow Finlander Hekki Kovalainen.



The wifey and I.

Fellow Kimi fan!

We couldn't see/find any Brawn GP mechandise, and this was the only fan I saw who had the Jensen Button apparel!

Nelson Piquet.

Impending wet conditions saw the photo and video crew wiping out rain gear for their equipment.

It was a real treat to be in Turn 1, with a large screen TV in a corner and I had audio commentary as well via noise-shielding ear-buds, I could hear that Kimi was going to overtake Fernando Alonso, and from the screen, Kimi overtook Fernando at the final turn, and we could see and cheer him as he comes back around turn 1. This was the most enjoyable F1 ever in terms of enjoyment of the race. Kimi was to finish disappointingly as Ferrari decided to put him on full wet tyres even before rain fell hard.

Nakajima fans.

Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing makes a classic passing move on Fernando Alonso by slip-streaming the Renault on the start-finish straight and plunging down the inside of Fernando. The Renault late-braking cause the inner wheel to lock-up and alas it was too late and Mark had the corner covered!

It was ~6pm, it was dark, it was raining. The safety car almost came to a standstill to collect the leading car (Jensen Button), while almost the entire field was skating around on the wet wet track. We could feel the rain on us as the wind blew the rain into the sheltered grandstands. I love this shot, the race was in disarray, Felipe Massa kicking up a spray in the very dark conditions, with the safety car scrambling to make sense of the field.

The race was red-flagged a within another lap or so, this was 6:10pm, all cars were back onto the start-finish grid. Usually, the stewards will wait for the situation to improve to re-start the race. Fans were already booing at this stage, as >20laps of the race were left and it looked impossible for a re-start given the rapid loss of light in the rain-soaked evening. Audio commentary and video footages at this point kept the 'race' going for us as we had video and audio interviews from several drivers and team bosses regarding the handling of the situation.



It was 6:52pm, 8 minutes more to the end of the 2 hour limit of each race, when reached, will render the winner of the race as the highest placed driver when the race was stopped. Here a dramatic shot of Jensen Button being told of the conclusion that the race had been cancelled good and he was declared the winner. The dark surroundings with many fans leaving in the background shows the plight of this grand prix. The FIA and Malaysian F1 authorities will probably agree to never have a race start at 5pm local time ever. If this is so, then we have just witnessed live, one of the most dramatic races in Formula 1 history!

I love F1!

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré Wine masterclass!

A long anticipated wine master class!! Thanks to recommendation from Wenhui's brother, Tiong Kiat . We went for this wine master class, of Chateau Léoville-Poyferré. The wine owner, Didier Cuvelier, was here himself to showcase his wonderful selection of grand vin, Chateau Léoville-Poyferré. Second wine Chateau Moulin Riche is also made by vineyard.

And off we went to St Regis, an impeccable hotel with a Ferrari F430 with several Bentleys lining the porch. We were to taste 8 vintages, the very first time I was doing such detailed wine tasting, and through EIGHT vintages! We started with the 2006 and went all the way to 1982. I shall attempt at writing notes per vintage. Wine experts, please correct me!

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 2006:

A red-purplish wine with a smooth nose with a hint of fruit (can't figure out which fruit). Mild acidity with trace of tannins. Decent length. 6% Petit Verdot (PV), 21% Merlot (M), %73 Carbenet Sauvignon (CS).

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 2004:

A pretty 'weak' nose, with chocolate? notes. With mild-medium tannins, sharp on the palette. OK length. My least favourite.

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 2002:

Interesting smooth nose of hints of Sulphur. Sharp and crisp, medium to strong acidity. Complex, dry and long length. Didier suggested 15 to 20 years of aging!

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 2001:

Fruity nose of plum and mocha!! Smelled 'woody' too, smooth, mildly-sharp, very dry, long length.

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 1998:

The first of the 'mid vintages'. Dark chocolatly nose. SUPER nose, I can nose it all day! Extremely well balanced, tannins/acidity/length go hand-in-hand all the way! My favourite!!

40% M, 58% CS (2% PV?)

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 1995:

Floral notes, pleasant on the palette, smooth with aged tannins. Acceptable length.

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 1989:

A 'true' vintage! Very dark brown red colour. Fantastic nose (which fruit??). Another vintage which I can nose it forever. A bouquet of roses! Nothing to nitpick, acidity/length/tannins are balanced.

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré 1982:

A 'out-of-this-world' feeling. Doesn't look, nose like that I'm used to. Fruity, smooth nose. Strong on the palette, mild length with complex tannins. A true gem of ripen age.

2009-02-20 Olivia Ong & S.H.E. at Yoga's Lin concert

Thanks Edward for the tickets! We were seated in block T2, from the North entracne. We had a great time watching Olivia Ong & S.H.E live!!! Ella is really good.

Only snapped a few shots and videos with the Sony Ericson W810, and probably are crappy to be uploaded. We'll see!

Vday 2009!

Valentine's Day 2009! The last Vday to fall on a saturday back in 2004, where we went to Rasa Sentosa for a wonderful weekend. This time, we tried out Amara santuary on the other side of the Island. Here's the expansive lobby, the transparent ceiling on the top left is under a roof of water...pretty nice at night!

The birthday bear with his flowers in the hotel room. (210).

Flowers galore around the place!!


Us having a fun time at the jacuzzi next to the Sky Pool. (there's another 2 pools in the vincinity).
We had the Glass Pavillion to ourselves for ~30mins for the wonderful dinner by Shutters restaurant.

Interesting first course with Soba, topped with Abalone and roe!

Awesome Foie Gras, with cold? tomato soup. Interesting courses were to follow..

Went walking around the place on the next morning after breakfast...

Wenhui went Peacock spotting! (or Peeking!)

It turned out that they're a pair of PeaHens, with a gorgeous white Peahen, seen here making a quick exit from our sights as they must have grown tired of the relentless stalking!

***** Love 4ever *****